Author Melanie Wells Asks You to Tell Two Friends and Join the Fight Against Adult Illiteracy
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Dallas, TX – In a modern-day battle of good v. evil, psychological thriller author Melanie Wells wages a fight against adult illiteracy through on online campaign called “I Told Two Friends.” By rallying readers and do-gooders across the country, Wells hopes to raise $100,000 for ProLiteracy, an organization whose mission is to end adult illiteracy worldwide, by donating 100 percent of her profits from book sales.
Book lovers are invited to visit IToldTwoFriends.com. There they will find an invitation to help fight illiteracy through a chain reaction. They are asked to buy two copies of the psychological thriller, My Soul to Keep, by Melanie Wells and give them to two friends and encourage those friends to also join the campaign by visiting the website and buying two books for two other friends …and so on and so on until thousands of dollars are raised to help eager adults learn to read these sentences.
“The ability to read is taken for granted by so many of us — we are completely unaware of the millions of people who struggle with this basic life skill. Addressing literacy is one of the few simple things you can do in the world which can truly make an enormous difference,” says Wells of the inspiration behind the campaign.
The goal of the I Told Two Friends campaign is to sell 100,000 copies of Wells’ books. For every copy sold at retail price, Wells will donate 100 percent of her profits to ProLiteracy.
“Partnerships such as this are so important to ProLiteracy’s mission to help adults learn to read, write and speak English,” says Lynne Jones, ProLiteracy’s vice president of development and membership. “Everyone who joins Melanie’s campaign will help profoundly change the lives of countless adults and their families.”
Wells encourages those who take part in the IToldTwoFriends.com effort to creatively record their efforts. Videos of the book exchanges and documentation of the books purchased will be published on the site. Prizes will be given along the way for most friends enlisted and most original documentation efforts.
According to the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, approximately 32 million adults in the U.S. fall into the lowest levels of literacy. They struggle to get and keep jobs, to help their children with homework, and to participate fully as citizens.
Readers can participate at www.IToldTwoFriends.com and www.proliteracy.org and can follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/IToldTwoFriends.
About ProLiteracy
ProLiteracy, based in Syracuse, champions the power of literacy to improve the lives of adults and their families, communities, and societies. It works with adult new readers and learners, and with local and national organizations to help adults gain the reading, writing, math, computer, and English skills they need to be successful. ProLiteracy advocates on behalf of adult learners and the programs that serve them, provides training and professional development, and publishes materials used in adult literacy instruction. ProLiteracy has 1,200 member programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and works with 125 nongovernmental international agencies. For more information, please go to www.ProLiteracy.org and www.NewReadersPress.com.
About Melanie Wells
A native of the Texas panhandle, Melanie Wells is a licensed therapist, business owner, musician and author of the critically acclaimed Dylan Foster trilogy of psychological thrillers. Her debut psychological thriller, “When the Day of Evil Comes,” was released in 2005 and sold more than 25,000 copies in the first six months. “The Soul Hunter,” her subsequent book, followed in 2006. Her latest book, “My Soul to Keep,” was released in 2008 from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers, a division of Random House.
Melanie holds masters degrees from both Dallas Theological Seminary and Our Lady of the Lake University, and has been in private practice as a counselor since 1992.
Since 1992, Wells has been in private practice as a counselor. She is the founder and director of The LifeWorks Group, a collaborative creative community of therapists based in Dallas, and is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.
Wells currently lives and writes in Dallas. She is at work on her next novel. See MelanieWells.com for more information.